U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers have arrested a Sudanese national with a lengthy, “violent” criminal history in Nashville, the agency announced Thursday.
According to ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) New Orleans, 55-year-old Gabriel Maror Ayuel, a Sudan native who entered the U.S. as a refugee in 1995, was arrested on May 5 after federal authorities located him at an apartment in South Nashville.
Ayuel’s criminal record includes a 2003 conviction in Davidson County for first-degree attempted murder, for which he received a 20-year prison sentence.
ICE said Ayuel’s history also includes arrests and charges in Tennessee and Georgia for driving under the influence, failure to appear, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, felony possession of a prohibited weapon, and felony flight to avoid prosecution.
The agency noted that an immigration judge issued a final order of removal against Ayuel in July 2008. Despite the order, he remained in the U.S. for more than 17 years.
ICE said that officers spent months investigating Ayuel’s whereabouts before locating him in Nashville, and, according to the agency, the Sudanese national told officers he had moved into the apartment only a week before his arrest.
“Removing illegal aliens with serious criminal convictions from our communities is essential to protecting public safety,” said acting ERO New Orleans Field Office Director Brian Acuna. “We are committed to enforcing immigration laws and prioritizing cases that pose a threat to our neighborhoods.”
Ayuel is currently being held in ICE custody pending his removal from the U.S., the agency reported.
The arrest drew praise from U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN-05), who wrote in part on social media, “Nashville ICE is the tip of the spear. Our streets are safer because of them.”
Ayuel’s case marks the second high-profile ICE arrest involving a criminal offender in Middle Tennessee announced within the past two weeks.
Last week, ICE revealed that officers had taken Honduran national Kelvin Mejia-Romero into custody after he completed a prison sentence for his role in a deadly wrong-way crash on Interstate 24 in Nashville on New Year’s Day 2022.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network.
Photos “Gabriel Maror Ayuel Arrest” by ICE.
